If you’re on the lookout for a top-quality smartphone, Samsung’s current flagship lineup is worth checking out, as the South Korean brand makes some of the best camera phones. Samsung deserves credit for this, but so does Sony for making many of those camera sensors work so well.
Sony’s upcoming camera sensor, allegedly named IMX09E, looks to maintain its dominant position in the segment, which might benefit the upcoming Galaxy S26, or at least, that’s what the leaked specifications suggest. The IMX09E will have 200 megapixels, like the Samsung ISOCELL HP2 in S25 Ultra, but its real strength seems to lie somewhere else.
What does Sony’s upcoming IMX09E camera sensor mean for the Galaxy S26?
Rumor has it that the IMX09E is the successor to its flagship sensor, the Lytia LYT-900. However, unlike its predecessor, the IMX09E is rumored to use a 1/1.12-inch sensor with 0.7μm native pixel size. It will also support features like Hybrid Frame HDR, 100dB+ ultra high dynamic range, improved photosensitivity, 2x and 4x full-pixel fusion lossless zoom, as per famed tipster Digital Chat Station (via Notebookcheck).
If the numbers are true, the IMX09E seems to be slightly smaller than the Lytia LYT-900, which has a 1/0.98-inch sensor with a native pixel size of 1.6 µm. However, it’s still better than Samsung’s own 200 MP ISOCELL HP2, which is a 1/1.3-inch class sensor with 0.6 µm native pixels, available in the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The upcoming Galaxy S26 Ultra will likely benefit from this, because it’s one of the devices rumored to use the IMX09E (via Android Headlines).
In addition to Samsung, the Oppo Find X9 Ultra and Vivo X300 Ultra will also likely use Sony’s upcoming flagship sensor. However, it doesn’t mean all these handsets will have the same camera performance, as the hardware isn’t the only factor that improves the quality of your shots.
A lot will also depend on how Samsung manages the software, as a bigger sensor means it now has to handle more data, and handle it well. Hopefully, Samsung will nail the software and make full use of the larger sensor to help users take better shots in low-light conditions. We’ll know the results early next year when Samsung makes the Galaxy S26 official.
Galaxy S26 Ultra camera specifications
According to the latest rumors, the 200MP primary camera in the Galaxy S26 will be accompanied by a 3x telephoto shooter, moving from a 10MP to a 12MP S5K3LD sensor, a 50MP 5x telephoto, and a 50MP ultrawide sensor. We’ll know more about its camera as we approach its official launch date.
